Bitcoin for my congressional campaign

[ericools]

I am running for US Congress in North Dakota District 1 (we only have the one)

I have read other posts on issues with accepting bitcoin.  However people donate cash to campaigns all the time.  Could I not simply have a form on my website collecting the required donor information and generating a bitcoin address?  How would this be different from cash donations.  In the unlikely event someone sent a large sum of coins to my campaign wallet, could I not simply state that any donations over the limit or not accompanied by the required donor information will be donated to the faucet or some non-profit?

Facebook page if you would like to give me a like:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eric-Olson-for-US-Congress/178809988867755

Web site will be www.ericolson2012.com it should be up in a week or so.

[1715026617]

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[1715026617]

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[stick_theman]

Good luck!

[notme]

You might want to put up a website instead of a bunch of ads before you publicize your link.

[sadpandatech]

I am running for US Congress in North Dakota District 1 (we only have the one)

I have read other posts on issues with accepting bitcoin.  However people donate cash to campaigns all the time.  Could I not simply have a form on my website collecting the required donor information and generating a bitcoin address?  How would this be different from cash donations.  In the unlikely event someone sent a large sum of coins to my campaign wallet, could I not simply state that any donations over the limit or not accompanied by the required donor information will be donated to the faucet or some non-profit?

Facebook page if you would like to give me a like:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eric-Olson-for-US-Congress/178809988867755

Web site will be www.ericolson2012.com it should be up in a week or so.

  All good questions for your campaign manager or accountant.  Ask your accountant how would donations made in gold coins be handled? I would trust bitcoin would be quite similar. Value of donation would be 'Consensus market value at time of donation' - cost of conversion to usd= $donation. As far as donations that do not have the acceptable donater information with them, state that any such donations will be returned to sender. Anyone sending bitcoins to your address will of course have their sending address recorded with the transaction in the blockchain.  Cheers, and good luck!

   Derek

[ericools]

Well it should redirect to my host any time now so it will show a blank page with a link to download the ballot access petition.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

I am running for US Congress in North Dakota District 1 (we only have the one)

I have read other posts on issues with accepting bitcoin.  However people donate cash to campaigns all the time.  Could I not simply have a form on my website collecting the required donor information and generating a bitcoin address?  How would this be different from cash donations.  In the unlikely event someone sent a large sum of coins to my campaign wallet, could I not simply state that any donations over the limit or not accompanied by the required donor information will be donated to the faucet or some non-profit?

Facebook page if you would like to give me a like:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eric-Olson-for-US-Congress/178809988867755

Web site will be www.ericolson2012.com it should be up in a week or so.

Eric - fantastic idea!

Let us know if we can help. The automated donation processing we do for charities and non-profits should work for your campaign needs.

https://bit-pay.com/forCharities.html

We can give you a Donate button for your site.  We collect the name and address of the donor for each transaction.  Check with your campaign manager, but this should cover the same requirements as if someone gave you a cash or check donation.  The source of the funds must be identified.  We can also collect a phone number from the donor if you want.

We sell the bitcoins immediately and record the current dollar valuation.  The donor gets a receipt, you get an email, and we forward the US dollars directly to your bank account.  It would be the exact same process as accepting a credit card. 

Let me know if we can help!

Thanks
Tony

[sadpandatech]

Eric - fantastic idea!

Let us know if we can help. The automated donation processing we do for charities and non-profits should work for your campaign needs.

https://bit-pay.com/forCharities.html

We can give you a Donate button for your site.  We collect the name and address of the donor for each transaction.  Check with your campaign manager, but this should cover the same requirements as if someone gave you a cash or check donation.  The source of the funds must be identified.  We can also collect a phone number from the donor if you want.

We sell the bitcoins immediately and record the current dollar valuation.  The donor gets a receipt, you get an email, and we forward the US dollars directly to your bank account.  It would be the exact same process as accepting a credit card. 

Let me know if we can help!

Thanks
Tony

  That sounds like a perfect solution. I like the processes you have in place for immediate sale, info collection, etc. This would be fully useful for any organization accepting donations. I will need to look into your service and forward some info on to the Wikimedia, Seti@home guys, et al!

[ericools]

Thanks I actually did sign up for bitpay and would probably use it.  

My campaign manager only knows what I have told him about bitcoin.  My leaning is that I will probably go ahead and do it.  I think it is unlikely that I will raise any contributions with bitcoin that will run into reporting issues anyway, but I wanted to find out what the community thought.  I don't plan to make any statements about it in my campaign but hopefully someone from the media will question me about it so that I have a chance to introduce the concept to people in my state.

The only thing that I need as far as help right now is in collecting signatures to establish a Libertarian party in North Dakota for ballot access. 

Thank you for creating bitpay, I think the auto conversion should take care of the any valuation issues, though it would be nice to be able to use bitcoins for some of my campaign expenses.  To print some lit perhaps.

[notme]

Thanks I actually did sign up for bitpay and would probably use it.  

My campaign manager only knows what I have told him about bitcoin.  My leaning is that I will probably go ahead and do it.  I think it is unlikely that I will raise any contributions with bitcoin that will run into reporting issues anyway, but I wanted to find out what the community thought.  I don't plan to make any statements about it in my campaign but hopefully someone from the media will question me about it so that I have a chance to introduce the concept to people in my state.

The only thing that I need as far as help right now is in collecting signatures to establish a Libertarian party in North Dakota for ballot access. 

Thank you for creating bitpay, I think the auto conversion should take care of the any valuation issues, though it would be nice to be able to use bitcoins for some of my campaign expenses.  To print some lit perhaps.

You could perhaps pay your campaign workers a small percentage of their pay in bitcoins.

[BitcoinMint.US]

Good luck!

+1

[notme]

Well it should redirect to my host any time now so it will show a blank page with a link to download the ballot access petition.

It's up, but there's a typo.  Just thought I'd let you know so you can get it fixed.

[JeffK]

good luck, you seem to be off to a fantastic start

[Jalum]

I am running for US Congress in North Dakota District 1 (we only have the one)

Care to detail your job experience for any potential ND voters here?

[DeathAndTaxes]

Federal reporting requirements are the same regardless of the type of donation and are based on the fair market value.  Donations don't have to be cash.  For example someone could donate 90 days usage of their RV so you could drive around the state meeting voters.  The value of the donation is what matters.   Bitcoin would be the same as any other non-cash donation.  The market value of the donation at the time of the donation matters. 

When you think about it the reporting requirement has to be based on value otherwise it would open some easy loopholes.  I can't donate $20M but I could (if reporting was on cash only) donate a $20M painting to you which you promptly sell for $20M to fund your campaign.   

Using Bitpay is likely a smart idea as having a third party do the collection and accounting always looks good.  Maybe next election cycle (2016) Bitpay could have a "election module" which does things like ensure people don't accidentally donate multiple times and exceed the federal limits (if they intentionally commit fraud well that is another thing), some basic data checking (doesn't look good getting 10,000 max donations from Donald Duck), and reporting. 

[Steve]

Thank you for creating bitpay, I think the auto conversion should take care of the any valuation issues, though it would be nice to be able to use bitcoins for some of my campaign expenses.  To print some lit perhaps.

We maintain a record of the current exchange rates at the time every invoice is generated…thus, if you wanted to accept bitcoins, we can provide you with records of the equivalent dollar amount of those contributions.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

To me, it looks like an uphill climb. I figured right at 200,000 North Dakotans would need to vote for a person who has an established Dilworth, Minnesota, address. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakota%27s_At-large_congressional_district

Also, one must be at least 25 years of age to be a US Representative. Since you are now officially running for public office, and your age shouldn't be a secret, what's your date of birth?

[ericools]

I know your just trolling me, but here it is anyway:

Yes an uphill climb, I would say so.  I am running as a Libertarian, third party candidates are always at a disadvantage.  Additionally there is not currently a Libertarian Party in North Dakota.  We are currently working to establish one.  Well I would likely need much less than 200K depending on voter turn out due to it being a three way race. 

I don't know where you got the address from but I haven't lived in Dilworth for many years.  I currently reside in Fargo, ND (same metro area).  I am sure it is still listed on all sorts of accounts I have created over the years both on and off line, I don't see any point in trying to update them all as the only legally relevant thing is that I am a North Dakota resident and have been for much longer than is required to run for office.

My age isn't a secret, I was born May 20th 1983.  Both my birth date and current address are listed on several sites, I simply did not bother to enter the information here.  No I am not going to upload a copy of my birth certificate or anything else.  I am confident the State of North Dakota will be able to figure out that I am eligible to run when my paperwork gets filed in January.


So why run an uphill battle.  Because everyone I speak to is upset, they are angry at both parties.  I read in the paper congressional approval ratings of 9 or 12%.  Our country has a built in method of peaceful revolution.  That is to vote out bad government.  The currently can not be done, because both candidates on the ballot in almost every race are basically the same, save a few issues that don't affect anyones bottom line.  The only way to change this is to build up a third party, and run candidates (or run independent candidates) that people can vote for in order to show no confidence in both of the major parties.  I have chosen the Libertarian ticket because I believe that Libertarian principals are essentially correct (especially in regard to the federal government), and it is by far the biggest and most organized of the third parties in the United States, making it the most viable party to launch competitive national level candidates.     

Even a small percentage of the vote going to a third party changes the field.  It forces our representatives to pay attention to why people are voting for the third candidate.  It generates more interest and revenue for the party, making it easier to field candidates and easier to raise funds.  Well I am running the office, as I think it is very much necessary to replace at least some of the Dem/Rep hold on congress, I do not need to get elected to have the desired effect.  A double digit showing in the general election would be a major win.  It would mean that a party that did not have any real presence in my state prior to this election will hold significant mind share.  This will make the next cycle much easier, both for the party and for myself should I choose to run again.

That is not to say that it can not be won.  The major parties do not have a lot of favor right now, and North Dakota is one of the most Libertarian leaning of all states.

At the very least, I will have someone on the ballot I would want to vote for, and I know I can provide that for many others as well.

[ericools]

Well I think people should be able to do what they want.  It's called freedom.  While civil liberties are very important me, at the moment I am more concerned about them spending us into an inescapable pit of debt, while they print money until they dilute the value of anyone's savings thats under a billion dollars to nil.

At this point we don't even get candidates with ideology.  We just get candidates who say whatever they think will get them elected and then do whatever the companies that funded their campaign want them to.

We need another choice.  If you don't like libertarian philosophy, vote for the green party, independent, write someone in.  The only way anything will change is if we stop voting for Republicans and Democrats.  (in general, I know we have a couple of genuine reps).

[deltanine]

Well I think people should be able to do what they want.  It's called freedom.  While civil liberties are very important me, at the moment I am more concerned about them spending us into an inescapable pit of debt, while they print money until they dilute the value of anyone's savings thats under a billion dollars to nil.

At this point we don't even get candidates with ideology.  We just get candidates who say whatever they think will get them elected and then do whatever the companies that funded their campaign want them to.

We need another choice.  If you don't like libertarian philosophy, vote for the green party, independent, write someone in.  The only way anything will change is if we stop voting for Republicans and Democrats.  (in general, I know we have a couple of genuine reps).

If you should win, to which of the two major parties would you caucus with?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I know your just trolling me, but here it is anyway:

Yes an uphill climb, I would say so.  I am running as a Libertarian, third party candidates are always at a disadvantage.  Additionally there is not currently a Libertarian Party in North Dakota.  We are currently working to establish one.  Well I would likely need much less than 200K depending on voter turn out due to it being a three way race.  

I don't know where you got the address from but I haven't lived in Dilworth for many years.  I currently reside in Fargo, ND (same metro area).  I am sure it is still listed on all sorts of accounts I have created over the years both on and off line, I don't see any point in trying to update them all as the only legally relevant thing is that I am a North Dakota resident and have been for much longer than is required to run for office.

My age isn't a secret, I was born May 20th 1983.  Both my birth date and current address are listed on several sites, I simply did not bother to enter the information here.  No I am not going to upload a copy of my birth certificate or anything else.  I am confident the State of North Dakota will be able to figure out that I am eligible to run when my paperwork gets filed in January.


So why run an uphill battle.  Because everyone I speak to is upset, they are angry at both parties.  I read in the paper congressional approval ratings of 9 or 12%.  Our country has a built in method of peaceful revolution.  That is to vote out bad government.  The currently can not be done, because both candidates on the ballot in almost every race are basically the same, save a few issues that don't affect anyones bottom line.  The only way to change this is to build up a third party, and run candidates (or run independent candidates) that people can vote for in order to show no confidence in both of the major parties.  I have chosen the Libertarian ticket because I believe that Libertarian principals are essentially correct (especially in regard to the federal government), and it is by far the biggest and most organized of the third parties in the United States, making it the most viable party to launch competitive national level candidates.    

Even a small percentage of the vote going to a third party changes the field.  It forces our representatives to pay attention to why people are voting for the third candidate.  It generates more interest and revenue for the party, making it easier to field candidates and easier to raise funds.  Well I am running the office, as I think it is very much necessary to replace at least some of the Dem/Rep hold on congress, I do not need to get elected to have the desired effect.  A double digit showing in the general election would be a major win.  It would mean that a party that did not have any real presence in my state prior to this election will hold significant mind share.  This will make the next cycle much easier, both for the party and for myself should I choose to run again.

That is not to say that it can not be won.  The major parties do not have a lot of favor right now, and North Dakota is one of the most Libertarian leaning of all states.

At the very least, I will have someone on the ballot I would want to vote for, and I know I can provide that for many others as well.

I know your just trolling me, but here it is anyway:

How do you know I'm trolling? I've never trolled a single time on this forum or any other place on the internet.

I don't know where you got the address from but I haven't lived in Dilworth for many years.

Serously? No clue where I got the address from? Haven't lived there for years? I'm just a guy on the Bitcoin forum. Imagine what two other candidates could do if they saw the following.

Registrant:
Eric Olson
425 9th st sw
Dilworth, Minnesota 56529
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: ERICOLSON2012.COM
Created on: 05-Nov-11
Expires on: 05-Nov-12
Last Updated on: 11-Nov-11

The bottom line, Eric, is that I do wish you well with your campaign. To show my sincerity, I just tried donating 1 BTC on your donation page. It seems broken. Would you be so kind as to PM an address so that I can do this. Yes, it's not much, but it's something. My gesture of goodwill, is what I'm more concerned about. Please, no hard feelings. Get your GoDaddy account updated, also.

Bruno

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Eric the donate button is broken.  You are not transmitting all the required fields in the button form post.  Make sure you create a proper donate button and copy all the HTML code onto your website.

[netrin]

Best of luck and votes to you!

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I just realized something. Living in Illinois allows me to vote in North Dakota. Wait! I'm mistaken. I could only vote for a North Dakotan if I'm dead and a Democrat. They have the weirdest rules in this state. But I tried, Eric. I tried. Please keep us abreast of your campaign.

Bruno

[ericools]

"If you should win, to which of the two major parties would you caucus with?"

I can't answer that, I have no idea.  Would probably depend on what the makeup of congress was at the time.

"How do you know I'm trolling? I've never trolled a single time on this forum or any other place on the internet."

The alternative was that your being genuine and you really think that I am trying to run for office in a different state than I live in, and at an age too young to run.  I suppose people have done dumber things....

"Serously? No clue where I got the address from? Haven't lived there for years? I'm just a guy on the Bitcoin forum. Imagine what two other candidates could do if they saw the following."

Could have come from many places.  It seems I used a credit card from my local bank, one I have banked at since Junior High, they still have my parents address on file for me.  I don't imagine they will do much of anything with that information.  As a third party candidate I expect to be ignored.  In the unlikely event one of the other candidates choose to attack me on this it is easy to defend and I'll get a free headline or two out of it.  I suppose I should update it anyway though, if I am to be attacked, I would rather it be on policy.



Thank you for letting me know about the donations not working.  The site is still being setup and there are several things that do not work properly (such as comment sections appearing everywhere).  I will let my web guy know to fix it.  This is why I have shared the address here, so that everyone can point out what is not right so I can deal with it before spending time/money to promote it.



"The bottom line, Eric, is that I do wish you well with your campaign. To show my sincerity, I just tried donating 1 BTC on your donation page. It seems broken. Would you be so kind as to PM an address so that I can do this. Yes, it's not much, but it's something. My gesture of goodwill, is what I'm more concerned about. Please, no hard feelings. Get your GoDaddy account updated, also."

Thanks, I have sent you a pm with a bitcoin addy.  In this campaign every little bit really does help.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Here's hoping your campaign is going well. Toss up an update regardless how mundane.

Bruno

[ericools]

Well here is the update;  http://ericolson2012.com/2011/12/149/

My announcement, just posted up on Facebook and Google +.  Website is pretty sparse still, but compared to my opponents I think I actually have more issue related information.  Sadly...  They have pictures, I'm working on that still..

Not much in the way of promotion yet.  Sometime between Xmas and New Years, there will be some media presence.  Though my primary goal at the moment is getting ballot access.  Things are falling together.   

[BadBear]

The thread belongs here because the OP is talking about the legalities of taking bitcoins, how to accept it, etc. which fits in general, nothing to do with political discussion.  If the replies are going in a different direction those are what get split/deleted/whatever.  Asking him questions about his political stance is related, debating the political stances isn't.  

Thread split, keep the political debate there if you want to do that. 
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=55179.0

[jimbobway]

Well here is the update;  http://ericolson2012.com/2011/12/149/

My announcement, just posted up on Facebook and Google +.  Website is pretty sparse still, but compared to my opponents I think I actually have more issue related information.  Sadly...  They have pictures, I'm working on that still..

Not much in the way of promotion yet.  Sometime between Xmas and New Years, there will be some media presence.  Though my primary goal at the moment is getting ballot access.  Things are falling together.   

Can you add some more details and any information on your donation page with the bitcoin button?  I'd like to link to it but there is no info on the page, really.  Maybe put in a few small words about bitcoin, what it is, and why you are accepting it.

[ericools]

Good call, I added a short description and a link to weusecoins.com.  Content will be filling in gradually.  I should have the major points covered by the end of the year.  I plan to start promotion fist weekend of January or so.

[ericools]

Well here is the update:

Campaign is starting to pick up.  Media attention, newspapers and radio.  Good feedback, volunteers, encouragement, all good.  No one so far has asked me about bitcoin being on my website, though it has still only been promoted on facebook and a brief mention on the radio.  Images are still being worked on for it... and I think most of my hits are on the facebook page.

If there ends up being any sizable donations though bitcoin or media interest in my use of it I will be sure to post here otherwise if you are interested in following it at all I suggest liking it on facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/olsonforcongress Google +https://plus.google.com/b/111351412319398310855/ and Twitter @EricOlson2012


Some early traffic stats just because:

Windows 49.3%
Linux 36.9%
Mac 11.3%
Unknown 2.3%

Opera 28.9%
Chrome 27.6%
Firefox 22.5%
Internet Explorer 11.1%
Safari 4.6%
Android 1.5%
Mozilla 1.4%
Unknown 1.3%
iPhone .6%


My use of Linux (and usually Opera) is in play here (I have accessed the page a lot).  It should not have been enough to account for putting Opera on top.  I can only imagine someone else who uses Opera really likes to view my page despite the fact that the colors don't load right with it.  It also claims they are all from Opera version 9.8, a version I have never used.

[sadpandatech]

Thanks for the update and best of luck to you.

Nice to see that Bitcoin button on your site there!   

[jlmanzanilla]

Good luck on your campaign!